Portable electronic devices, such as smartphones, are commonly used for communication and entertainment purposes. “Smart” watches and other wearable and/or portable electronic devices, such as wireless headphones and fitness devices, are becoming more widely used. A typical advantage of a wearable electronic device is its small size and weight. Often, the most convenient and lightweight “wearables” perform comparatively little processing, instead communicating data to a larger device such as a smartphone or tablet, in order to e.g., conserve power. In some instances, a wearable electronic device may, under normal use, provide only enough power for a few hours of operation before needing to be recharged.
Wearable electronic devices may communicate with a separate (e.g., portable) electronic device that may store and consume a much larger amount of electrical power or charge to power its own circuitry (e.g., processor(s)). This separate electronic device may perform a bulk of the processing for various tasks in order that the wearable electronic device may remain small, lightweight, and/or may consume little power.
In addition, a wearable electronic device may forego some switches, electrical connectors, and/or the like in order to provide greater resistance to ingress of water, sweat, dust, etc. In some instances this approach may limit the functionality of the device and/or may require the wearable electronic device to communicate data and/or power only wirelessly.
A smartwatch, for example, may communicate with a smartphone to receive notifications and other information and to provide data from smartwatch sensors. However, many wearable electronic devices have limited space for a power source, such as a battery. As a result a smartwatch, for example, may need to be recharged relatively frequently. This need for frequent recharging may prevent use of a smartwatch, or other wearable electronic device, by a person who does not have access to a typical charging source for an extended period of time. For example, a person going camping may find a smartwatch useless after one day due to lack of access to a charging source.